Springwise: TRENDWATCHING.COM’s GRAVANITY trend is not exactly fading yet: every month, we receive spottings of new goods, services and experiences designed to make consumers feel like VIPs, if not guaranteeing them immortality. From MyTwinn dolls to the Reality Village (see this edition). The most personal service spotted so far? CATGee, part of DNA Products, which lets ordinary folks capture and […]
My DNA
Sustainable Change
CNET: A new shopping Web site due to launch Aug. 22 will let people buy products online from companies that share their customers’ social values. Alonovo.com lets people define the social and environmental values they feel are important and see how different merchants perform in those areas using data from KLD Research and Analytics. The areas include labor relations, animal […]
Mobile Boutiques
ChannelNewsAsia.com: Xavel Inc. has a client base marketing gurus dream about. When they’re done shopping, customers are in the habit of e-mailing their friends to pass on a recommendation. The Tokyo-based fashion retailer operates a cellphone shopping site, not a conventional outlet. It means the referred customer can be making the same purchase within minutes. Net effect: Projected sales of […]
Buy Me A Beer
TrendBlog: “Sorry I can’t make tonight, but this round is on me.” Corney & Barrow, one of London’s Financial District’s largest bar operators, have joined forces with Buy Me a Beer.com to makes it possible for people to buy their friends a drink online. These drinks may be “virtual,” but they still quench the thirst after a hard day at […]
Egg Alert!
BloggingBaby: Picture this: you’re sitting at a swanky bar (okay, maybe it’s just a Chevy’s) and your cell phone does a little musical number to let you know that you have a new text message. You flip your phone open and check your inbox. Ah ha! It’s your EggAlert reminding you that you’re about to ovulate. EggAlert is software created […]
My Home Outside
The Cool Hunter: It had to happen. As practically everything we use in the home – from TV sets to cell phones, ipods and computers – have shrunk in size and increased in efficiency, it was only a matter of time before the home itself became a transportable, order-in, pocket sized commodity. Ok, so it won’t fit in your pocket […]
Monkey Business
BusinessWeek: It’s not safe coaching third base — or any base, for that matter — when the ZOOperstars are in town. Just ask the countless coaches who have been swallowed whole by 10-foot-tall Clammy Sosa, one of the most popular of the ZOOperstars. In the mascot troupe’s signature bit, the impressively tall inflatable clam clad in a Sammy Sosa jersey […]
Bitter Chocolate Toothpaste
Iconoculture: Minty fresh gone stale? Tired taste buds get a breath of fresh air with Breath Palette toothpastes. The polishes for pearly whites come in 32 unexpected flavors like Bitter Chocolate, Indian Curry, Sweet Salt, and Pumpkin Pudding. The cavity fighters, invented in Japan, scrub tooth surfaces with super-fine microbeads and break down plaque with Xylitol. All 32 flavors have […]
Super Pen
TrendCentral: This fancy pen does way more than just write. Packed with a tiny computer, camera, speaker and ink cartridge, the FLY allows users to do math, make music, play games, and schedule activities. When the user writes on special FLY paper, the pen’s computer recognizes what is written and performs the corresponding functions. The technology allows what is written […]
Facial Health Water
Ubercool: In case you haven’t noticed, water is everywhere, particularly the bottled kind. It’s such a hot commodity it has created a $46 billion market. In some countries, bottled water has even eclipsed beer consumption, and it could well overtake carbonated soft drinks as the world’s No.1 beverage. A notable water of late is BORBA Skin Balance Water ($34 for […]